Slap some Sense into Me
by The Silent Scream
Summary: My take on parts of Season 2 Episode 5. Written from Jane's POV. Jane's totally not crushing on Maura, you know. But then, why do the words "Unzip me" have such an impact on her? Jane/Maura
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is my first try at writing Rizzoli & Isles fanfic, but after the glorious butt-slapping scene in ep 5 AND the "Unzip me" thing, I just had to do something with it. :) To make it even more difficult, I wrote this in Jane's POV (I think doing a Maura POV would kill me, what with her Google Mouth and everything), but I have no idea if I actually got her "voice" right, first time and everything, so please don't eat me in case it's totally OOC. Also, I'm not sure if I'll leave this as it is or if I'll add more. Feedback is very appreciated, no matter if it's good or bad!

Disclaimer: Neither the gorgeous Rizzoli, nor the equally gorgeous Isles are mine (man, if they were, they would've hooked up in season 1 already), but belong to TNT and the brilliant mind of Tess Gerritsen. Also, I'm just a poor office schmuck, so even if you sue me, you won't get no money from me. ;)

And so, withouth further ado...

Slap some Sense into Me

„A fatal slip and fall at the Pilgrim's locker room", Maura tells me right after she hung up the phone, and automatically, my eyes move back to the TV where the announcer is still talking about whatever he's been talking about before Maura got that phone call, but not about the fact that there's a dead person lying around there somewhere.

"That's weird, they're not reporting it", I say out loud, and, after a second, I add "Let's go" – not only do I want to stay with Maura, but I'm not all too interested in hanging out with both my Ma _and_ my screw-up brother Tommy, he might get the idea to tell me about his fun time in the pokey.

Maura gives me a look that basically says "What?", after all, only she has been called, slip-and-falls are not my department, not even when they end fatal – I can hardly arrest the edge of a table or the floor after all, right? – and so I feel I have to add an explanation, before she might get the idea to tell me I should stay here.

"I've never been to the Pilgrim's stadium, and their locker room is closer than your couch, come on!" I thus say – and then I slap her as I walk past her. On the butt. Yes, Ladies and Gentleman, I slapped my best friend, whom I totally _not_ crushing on, on the butt. Straight best friends do that all the time, right?

Okay, I know they don't. I've never done that with any other friend, and I'm not even sure why I did it to Maura right now. And hard enough to make a pretty loud _slap_ sound, too. So loud, in fact, that Ma turns on the couch and gives me the look, the one she – for some weird reason – always gives me whenever Maura touches me or I touch her or we look at each other a bit longer than best friends should be looking at each other, that look where she raises one eyebrow and tilts her head just a bit, silently asking me a question I'm not ready to answer yet.

Maybe someone should slap me – slap some sense into me.

However, Maura doesn't really seem to mind; she remains where she is for a moment, then she says something about how she's always wanted to see the players without their uniforms, and before I can stop myself, I say "Maura!" in that slightly annoyed, totally not jealous tone. Why would I be jealous if she wants to see those idiot guys without their uniforms? Please. I'm totally not crushing on her.

* * *

><p>Whoo! Score! Tickets at the first base line! Unfortunately, they are for the game which will be playing in a few minutes and even more unfortunately, the guy who gave them to me – former colleague, old guy, now working in security – wants me to go and watch it while he'll go help Maura look at the dead person. No way I'm gonna be that far away while he ogles Maura.<p>

So, I tell him that if it's okay for him, I'll just wait here for Maura – of course calling her "Dr. Isles", formality and everything – in that tone that makes it clear to him that, even if it shouldn't be okay with him, I'll wait right here anyway. Luckily, he doesn't make a fuss, but agrees and walks off, so score again! Only this time, it's a bit lessened by the fact that now, I'm stuck in a locker room with a bunch of baseball players and get to watch their strange little habits.

Okay, let's see… guy giving his baseball bat some sort of handjob with a little blue thingy and then sniffing the blue thingy. Ew. Compensating much? Next up, guy opening and closing the Velcro on his glove and counting how often he did that. You've gotta be kidding. Guy drinking from a bottle with lotsa bling on it, someone's making too much money. Velcro guy watches and still goes "One, two, three…", opening and closing the Velcro. And, oh jeez, for crying out, this next guy takes the cake – he just goes and pukes right into the trashbin. I pity the cleaning lady. At first she has to find a random dead guy and now this. Talk about stressful work environment.

And as if that wasn't enough, some other random guy comes up to me and tries some chit-chat, talking about how baseball players are superstitious and have their little rituals. No! I never would have guessed, after what I just saw! Ditz. Aww, and he makes it even worse by using the old "I wouldn't mind being interrogated by you" pick-up line while he gives me his number. Really? That line? I've heard that one how often, four million times?

"Heard that line. Like, four million times", I tell him, forcing a smile on my face, and he tries to make it better by telling me to call him and that he'll think of a new one. It'll probably be about handcuffs or nightsticks or something.

Okay, I've had enough of puking baseball players and non-puking ones who try to pick me up, so it's time to join Maura in the shower… wouldn't that be awesome… Goddammit, what is wrong with me? So, I mentally clear my throat and get my thoughts outta the gutter, and I join Maura in the shower, in a totally innocent, non-sexual way of course, I mean, there's a dead person there, so of course I'd just join in her in an innocent way, I mean, which other way could there be for two best, straight friends? I'm totally not crushing on her.

* * *

><p>Eww, naked guy. Naked chubby guy, to make it even worse. Naked chubby <em>dead<em> guy. And Maura looks a bit upset, that isn't good, something's bothering her, and I quickly find out why, there are two skull fractures even though chubby guy just fell once.

Security guy tries to tell us that he cracked his head on the shower handle, but smart Maura quickly sees that this can't be true because the shower handle doesn't fit the gash, so something else must have struck his skull. Oh no, I hate when this happens, I know Maura doesn't like guessing, practically hates it in fact, but if there's any chance that this is a murder and not an accident, I have to make her guess. So, I give her a deep, deep look and, in a lowered voice (bedroom voice… what is wrong with me? totally not my bedroom voice), I ask her if it's a suspicious death and what her gut says.

"I don't listen to my intestines", she tells me. Jesus, that woman is so literal sometimes. But that's one of the things I lo—like about her. Most of the time. Not right now though.

"Maura?" That's all I have to say, along with another deep, deep look, and I can see the decision in her eyes – such beautiful eyes… Dammit! – before she even opens her mouth and declares that death suspicious. Security guy looks nonplussed, but I don't really care, even when he looks as if he wants to eat me when I give him back the tickets for the VIP seats.

Not that I care, after all, we've got a murder investigation now and I had to make Maura guess to make that happen, did I mention that I hate when that happens? I don't wanna make her upset or uncomfortable, I wanna make her happy and feel like she's jumping through a field of daisies. Jeez, how tacky, get a grip, Rizzoli. Still, I'm totally not crushing on her.

* * *

><p>"The murder weapon is a cylindrical, heavy, hard object", Maura tells me while she studies an x-ray of dead guy's head, and for once I'm not looking at her, but at one of our other forensic guys spraying a baseball bat with Luminol so if there's any blood on it, it'll show in the phosphor light they are using.<p>

"Gee, what could it be?" I pretend to be thinking out loud, "think it's a pipe?"

"A pipe is too thin", Maura tells me, did she even hear the sarcasm in my voice? No, wait, I forgot, she's not good with sarcasm.

"What about a majorette's baton?" I go on anyway, and now she catches on, evidenced by her reply.

"I'm glad you find my scientific approach amusing", she says, and I swear she has that tiny little smile on her face, I can tell from the sound of her voice without even looking at her, and I lo—like that smile so much, so I almost turn to look at her, but then forensic guy starts walking towards us, so I don't and instead I tell her "I think it's a bat, Maura."

Forensic guy enters, gives me the bat and tells me they found blood, so immediately, my guess is proven correct, go me. Not that it was hard to guess this correctly.

"Now, how do I prove that Manny swung the bat?" I think out loud again, only it's for real this time, and Maura says something about doing my "gumshoe thing", wait, what? Okay whatever, I tell her I can't do that this time because every baseball fan of Boston will be against me – I will be going after the Pilgrims' superstar after all – and she tries to make some sort of pop culture reference while talking about how the public is reluctant to hold celebrities responsible for crimes. With a silent film star, for cryin' out loud. I really need to teach her about more… recent references she might use.

"Stop", I tell her, then Frost interrupts us before I can lecture her on how pop culture references should reference pop culture of the current time, not from, like, a hundred years ago, and tells us that our victim was a druggie, as well. Great idea, hiring a druggie to be the sober coach for someone else.

As if that interruption wasn't enough, Korsak pages me, so I'll have to go and leave Maura… alone, here in the morgue I mean, I don't really wanna, but well, the job's the job.

"I'm off!" I say with more force than necessary, prep-talking myself into leaving, "to do my gumshoe thing."

"I shouldn't have used that term", Maura realizes, and I smirk while I tell her that no, she shouldn't have, and then I swear she makes my knees go all jello-ish on me by telling me that the term refers to galoshes – which I'm not wearing, I may not be on top of the fashion, but come on – and then letting out this cute little giggle. Man, that was so adorable, I just wanna pinch her cheeks and then kiss them to make it better and… Dammit!

Quickly, I just give her another smirk and then I turn and leave, before I might do something that I'll regret. But I'm totally not crushing on her.

* * *

><p>After talking to the poor son of our victim and paying a little visit to our prime suspect, I call Jesse, he of the bad pick-up lines, for an interview; he agrees to do it, and invites me to some high-class French restaurant, and I accept – after making it clear that it'll be strictly business and that I'll be on the job. I'm so not interested in him in any other way.<p>

Only after I hung up, I realize that I have no idea what this place is like where he'll go with me, so I have to drop by in Maura's office and ask her about it, I mean, she knows about that stuff, it's totally not a pretence or anything so I can get to talk to her again, I really don't have to do that anymore at that stage of our straight, platonic friendship.

Of course she knows about the place, and of course she tells me that I can't go there wearing my current clothes – actually, she's not really telling me that, but the way she asks me if I'm out of my mind makes it plainly obvious – so I tell her why I'm going there and whom I'm going to meet. And she actually says the unpronounceable name of the restaurant and then adds "Le Booty Call." And smirks. What did she just say?

"What did you just say", I flatly ask her, I mean, as if I'd let anyone have a booty call but Mau—as if I'd let anyone have a booty call.

"I know", she tells me, did she read my mind or what? and then she takes off her jacket, and then she says two words I never would have thought I'd hear from her, especially not directed at me.

"Unzip me."

What?

"What?"

"Unzip me", she repeats.

Why?

"Why?" I wanna know, I'm not sure if I sound freaked out or whatever, glorious mental images of unzipping Maura are dancing in front of my inner eye.

"Because you can't go like that", she says, even sounding a bit indignant, she really wants me to unzip her? Jesus, I think I'm gonna faint.

I hope she doesn't notice how my hands tremble as I step up to her and do what she asked, or at least try to – suddenly, my hands are not only shaky, but also sweaty, and it takes me two tries to get a proper grip on that ridiculously small zipper. Stupid zipper… I hold my breath while I pull it down, exposing her back and the strap… of… her… bra… Hands even sweatier now and even shakier, breathing a bit too fast, she'll notice, uh-oh, so much about totally not crushing on her.

If she notices, she doesn't let it show, she just waits until I unzipped her fully. Which takes me forever because the damn zipper is so tiny and it keeps slipping out of my grip and anyway I'm distracted by her beautiful back and before I know what I'm doing, I'm running my fingers over the skin and she actually leans her head back a bit and lets out this tiny, barely audible sigh…

I realize what I'm doing and jerk my hand away from her back and quickly pull the zipper down fully, I think I actually almost tore it, and then I turn away from her, mumbling something about how she can change now, but the real reason is that I don't want her to see the lust that's surely in my eyes now, don't want her to notice that I breathe faster and that my heart is racing.

Man. I'm totally crushing on Maura. I really need someone to slap some sense into me.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Wow, you guys are amazing. Thank you all so much for the kind reviews, you really made my day. :) So, I nicely asked my muse for some more inspiration to continue this, and she was kind enough to provide it, even though that chapter turned out more serious than the first one. Also, it follows the episode pretty much until the moment where the fact that the TV is gone is discovered, then moves away from the progress of the show – maybe I'm the only one, but I thought Maura's reaction to the burglary was a bit too tame, especially after the trust she put in Tommy without even knowing him. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as much as the first one – please let me know, no matter if you did or didn't. :)

* * *

><p>Five minutes later, I'm torn. Namely between feeling awful in that dress I'm wearing now - it's pink, for God's sake, or maybe mauve, whatever, it's a colour I do. Not. Like. and it's way too tight – and between holding back the drool that wants to run down my chin whenever I look at Maura wearing my clothes.<p>

Man, why does she keep saying I have nothing to wear? Does she even realize how hot she looks in my clothes? Granted, the jacket's a bit too big for her so she had to roll the sleeves up, and it hangs on her perfect, so hot body – dammit! – a bit too loosely, but for some reason, that makes her even hotter. On the other hand, since I'm crushing so heavily on her, as I just realized minutes ago – yeah right – I guess I'd find her hot if she was wearing a potato sack.

I realize that I'm staring at her and that she's noticing, man, I have to say _something_ or this will end up being really awkward.

"It smells like a decomp", is the glorious line that comes from my mouth, man, smooth, Rizzoli, _really_ smooth.

"Oh", Maura immediately turns to her desk, still fiddling with the sleeves of the shirt and jacket for a moment before she grabs a perfume bottle – perfume! Jesus – and tells me that men are not attracted to the smell of death. Really. I shouldn't have said anything then, so Jesse, he of the bad pick-up lines, won't get any ideas.

"Really?" I say, and her response is to spray the stuff practically all over me, I must smell like a friggin' flower shop now, I wonder if bees will swarm me the moment I step outside. Let's hope Jesse won't swarm me.

"Okay that's enough!" I interrupt her before she can go even more overboard with the perfume, and she gives me that cute little smirk again, momentarily sending my heartbeat through the roof – before she looks down at my feet and the smirk falls and shatters on the floor, accompanied by a very dismayed "Oh". What now?

"Those boots are fashion homicide", she tells me the reason for her dismay a second later, hey I like those boots! But, well, they probably don't go well with a pink or mauve or whatever dress, I have to admit that. And now, sweet Jesus, Maura takes off her own shoes. Didn't she realize that my feet are like, two sizes bigger than hers?

"No", I protest, underlining that protest with energetic gestures, just to make I get my point across, "no! Those shoes are foot homicide." Clever way to take her little pun and using it further, I wonder if that impresses her?

"Put them on", she orders. Clearly my ability to pun did not impress her.

"They're too small!" I whine – yes, I actually whine, I think Dr. Maura Isles is the only person on the planet who can make me do that – and it works, because she orders me to give them back. Wow, she's really ordering me around right now, did I mention that this is kinda hot?

"You just said 'Put them on'", I remind her of the words she said not even a minute ago, handing them back to her, and she just says "Patience" and vanishes into her lab. When she comes back, she's holding a scalpel – a scalpel? That can't end well.

"What are you do—" I start to inquire, and then she already cuts off the tip of one shoe, of a shoe that probably cost more than I make in a month! I can't help but gasp, I even let out a shocked "Maura!", but she ignores that and my shocked face and moves on to shoe number two, then holds them out to me with that happy "See what I did there?" smile on her face and says "Voila! Peep toes!"

So cute, I can't help it but smile back, but I can fight down the urge to grab her into a fierce embrace and give her a big, big smooch for doing this for me. I mean, there aren't many women who'd ruin shoes that cost like, a thousand dollars, for their straight best friend, right?

"Thank you", is all I can say while I accept the shoes and start putting them on, and right after I managed that with shoe number one, Maura says "You look sexy."

I think I just had a stroke or an aneurysm or something when I heard her say that. She really did say that, right? I don't need to get my ears checked? Maura said I look sexy? Sweet Jesus. If I had a diary, I'd write that in it with big, huge, letters and draw a big, huge heart around it. Okay, I wouldn't do that, no way I'd do that, but… Maura said I look sexy?

Once more, I realize that I'm staring and that I have to say something back to her, some sort of compliment, I mean, that's what you do when someone compliments you and think the same about them, right?

"You look like… you're wearing my clothes", I tell her, and then I want to slap myself. Again, smooth, Rizzoli, very smooth. Maura just smiles, but for just a second, I believe I see something in her eyes, something like… disappointment? What does _that_ mean? Did she want me to tell her she looks sexy, too? My brain goes in hyperspeed mode so I can figure out how to ask that without sounding like a total tool, but before I can do that, my phone rings, dammit, stupid phone and stupid people interrupting my brain.

A quick glance on the display tells me that Ma's calling, but when I take the call, it's not Ma, it's Tommy, so naturally I ask him why he's having Ma's phone, but instead of telling me that, he rages about the vet or whatever, so I have to shut him up by telling him I'll be right there and while I tell Maura to come with me, in case I need backup, and hurry outside, I can't help but wonder if what I think I saw in her eyes was really there or if I imagined it, if it was wishful thinking. Man, I'm totally crushing on Maura.

* * *

><p>Naturally, Jesse, Master of the bad pick-up lines, tries to pick me up again, but I quickly – and quite harshly, I guess, but hey, that's life – make it obvious to him that I'm so not interested. Luckily, he takes the hint, the rest of the dinner is accompanied by talk about business, and I'm learning some pretty interesting new stuff about baseball players and their little rituals – maybe some of that will help with cracking that case, even though I have no idea yet how.<p>

I dutifully note it down anyway, one can never have too much information about a case, and thank Jesse for his time – and the invitation, man, the food in this place is _really_ expensive, I never could have afforded that, especially not after paying three hundred bucks to that robber baron of a vet – before we part ways outside the restaurant and I drive back ho—to Maura's place, so I can change back into my clothes. I can't wait for that, that dress is really tight, like some sort of freaky pink straightjacket, and I can't help shifting on the car seat again and again while I drive.

Even though, as a detective, I should know better, I can't help myself, but have to let my mind wander during the drive; no matter how much I try to keep my mind away from it, I keep flashing back to that moment when I thought Maura was disappointed because I didn't tell her she's sexy, as well. Why didn't I tell her, anyway? I mean, she said it first, so I know it wouldn't have made her uncomfortable to hear me say the same about her. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure she's not crushing on me, she just said that as a friend. Straight friends always tell each other how sexy they look, right?

Okay, I'm pretty sure they probably don't. At least, none of my other friends ever said that to me. Of course I have to take into consideration that Maura is my best friend, so that might change things. Jesus Christ, when did all of this become so damn confusing? Just yesterday, everything was just the way it should be, Maura was my best friend and I was totally not crushing on her.

Okay, I'm lying to myself, I was, I just hadn't acknowledged it. Now I can't help but wonder for how long this has been going on – when did my view on her change from "best friend" to "hottest woman in the world whom I'm totally crushing on"?

Man, I've never been good with all that stuff about feelings and self-reflection, and for a moment, I wish I could just shut it off and go back to the way things were before I started crushing on her. But, well, that's not an option, so all I can do now is deal with it and hope that maybe, it'll go away on its own. Or maybe, Maura won't be averse to…

No, Jane, don't even go there, no matter what you think you saw in her eyes during that one second, she's not like that, you _know_ she's not like that, and I'm not her type anyway. Man, that thought just really hurt. I really wish I wasn't crushing on her so hard.

* * *

><p>"That dress is like a straightjacket", I tell Maura while we walk into the living room, she coincidentally arrived at ho—at her house at the same moment as I did, and she gives me that cute little smirk again, and her reply makes my eyebrows shoot up probably all the way to my hairline. "Your suit is a real booty call magnet. I got hit on twice… by women." Really?<p>

"Really?" I sound kinda weird and confused, I mean, I got hit on too wearing that outfit, by men and women alike, but I don't like the thought of anyone hitting on Maura, especially when I'm not around for a little LLBFF charade in case the hitter's nasty or gross or whatever. Oh, the glorious moment of LLBFF charade, when I got to hold her so close and call her "Babe…"

"My TV! It's gone!" Maura's outcry tears me out of that sweet memory, and for a moment, I'm torn again, this time between just staring and running to find Tommy and beat the snot out of him. What does it say about me and my brother that my first thought is to blame him when I see the empty place where the TV has been? Wait, about my brother and I, I didn't say that out loud, but I know Maura wouldn't approve if she'd heard that wording.

Finally, I make a decision on how to react, and I hurry to the back door and yell for Ma and Tommy, I wish I could say I'm surprised when he's not there, but at least Ma is and comes rushing over, and all the colour drains out of her face when she sees the TV is gone. Man, I really wanna beat him up now for doing this to her, not to mention how he hurt Maura and abused her trust.

"Maura, I'm so sorry", I tell her while I turn away from Ma to look at her, and the way she just stares and covers her mouth with one hand breaks my heart, I just wanna walk over to her and hug her and cuddle her and tell her it'll be alright.

"It's okay", she finally seems to snap out of her shock, looking at me again, but I can see that it's not okay, that _she's_ not okay; I know how it feels to have something like that happen to oneself, after all, it hasn't been too long ago that Hoyt and his little apprentice buddy trashed my apartment, and I remember all the burglary victims who told about how they weren't feeling safe in their home anymore and how much the invasion of their personal space upset them.

Behind me, I hear Ma mumble something about how she's going to call Frankie Jr. and tell him, and I nod without even glancing at her; I know I should be taking care of her now, she must be so hurt by this, but I can't stop looking at Maura, how she paces up and down a bit, then runs both hands through that glorious hair of hers.

"No, it's not", I tell her, and then I shrug off all worries and concerns about how this is a bad idea and move close to her and pull her into a hug, and my heartbeat goes through the roof again when she hugs me back. No, no, no, bad Jane, no such thoughts now, your best friend's upset and needs comfort, so keep your mind outta the gutter, you hear?

"I'm so sorry", I tell her again, "Ma's calling Frankie, then we'll find Tommy and settle this…"

"It's just a TV", she says after half a minute of silence, raising her head to look at me, those gorgeous eyes meeting mine, but I won't have any of that, I can _see_ that she's upset and I'm not gonna let her hide it.

"It's not just the TV", I thus tell her, "you trusted him, we all did, and he fucked with that."

"Maybe it wasn't him", she mutters, not sounding all too convinced of her own words; then, her gaze moves to the empty spot where said TV has been, and suddenly I wish that she's right anyway, that it wasn't Tommy, not just for the sake of my family, but also because of her, I know how much it hurts to have someone abuse one's trust like that.

"Maybe", I just say, not sure what else I can tell her, I wish I could voice my thoughts, but I've never been good with that. And I wish it wouldn't feel so good to hold her, no matter how serious the situation is, I don't wanna let go of her, I just wanna continue holding her, maybe run my hands through that beautiful hair and then tilt her head up and kiss her until she forgets all about Tommy and the TV and everything else…

Man. This is gonna be hard. I wish I wasn't crushing on her so hard.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Again my muse smiled on me :) I'm not fully happy with this chapter, but I promise that the next one – which also will be the last one – will be better! I hope you'll enjoy that one, too. :)

* * *

><p>Frankie and I found Tommy at a bar, chatting up some chick, and after I made her leave by flashing my badge at her, we confront him about the missing TV – and jewellery, as it turned out, the TV wasn't the only thing missing, which upsets Maura even more and naturally, seeing her even more upset did the same to me, too. I'm not surprised when Tommy denies that he's the culprit, but I wish I could believe him; his sarcasm about how he's to blame for the divorce of Ma and Dad doesn't help, and I can't stop myself from snapping at him, remembering how upset Maura looked, the memory only fuelling my anger further.<p>

Of course, Tommy starts to with some smart-ass comeback, but before he gets to finish, I hear the name of our prime suspect Manny Vega come from the TV and I automatically turn and look at it, forgetting about Tommy and the stolen stuff when I see the car wreck, the ambulance and the police cars.

"Can you turn that up?" I ask the barkeep, and he responds by doing just that; Frankie and I exchange a look when the reporter informs us and everyone else watching that the Pilgrims star Manny Vega died in a car crash, and he nods when I ask him if he can take over here, I still take the time to give Tommy another look that's somewhere between dirty and strict, then I hurry outside and to my car.

Just like when I drove ho—to Maura's house after the dinner, I can't stop thinking about her again; now I don't ponder how she called me sexy though, but the shocked look on her face when she realized that there's been a burglary in her house. Now that it's too late, I start wondering if it was a good idea to leave with Frankie and go looking for Tommy; then, I tell myself that Ma stayed with her and that it'll be fine, she'll know how to calm her down, and now with our prime suspect ending up dead in a car crash, he'll surely land on her autopsy table, which will give her something to do and help to calm her, as well.

While I ponder that, I spot a confectionary up ahead, and I remember how keen Maura was on eating the fudge clusters that Jorge – oh, jeez, Jorge, Mr Male-Nurse-House-Husband – sent me while he was trying to woo me; I know that it won't be much, but it'll be better than nothing, and so I make a quick stop to buy a pack of them, even though they aren't exactly cheap. Maura's worth it though, and if I'll succeed to make her smile with that, it won't matter one bit.

For once, I'm able to concentrate on driving fully after I got back into my car and put the pack of candy on the passenger seat; it doesn't take much longer until I arrive at the station, and I'm not surprised to find Maura in the morgue, already waiting for the corpse of our victim. She still looks a bit shaken up, but she smiles at me when she sees me enter, then grows serious again when she asks if I already heard about Vega.

"Yup, that's why I'm here", I tell her, then produce the pack of fudge clusters, "and to give you this."

The way her eyes light up and the smile that curls her lips sends my heartbeat through the roof. Again. Man, if I keep going like that, I'm gonna have a heart attack sooner or later. I hope Maura will be around then to give me CPR, I'd really like some mouth-to-mouth from… Jesus, Jane, you're waiting for a dead guy to arrive and your best friend is still upset, even though she tries to hide it, so get a grip!

"Fudge clusters", Maura now exclaims, kinda stating the obvious, taking the package from me and looking at it with shining eyes, "thank you, Jane! This is really what I need now. Did you know that chocolate is known to boost the endorphin production? Endorphin is responsible for feelings of content and happiness."

"In other words, chocolate makes you happy", I decide to translate her google-mouthing into easier understandable terms; she beams at me and nods, apparently, the chocolate already makes her happy when she simply holds it, I wonder what will happen when she actually eats it.

"Except for when it's chocolate from Jorge", she then tells me, and do I actually see a mischief little twinkle in her eyes? "Chocolate from Jorge makes you sadder."

"I remember", I let her know, and even though I should be annoyed by the fact that she brings that insufferable guy up again, I can't help myself, I just have to smile at her, and the smile she gives me in return does for me what the fudge clusters did for her. I'm really crushing so hard on her, it's ridiculous.

* * *

><p>The moment poor dead Manny Vega is brought to the morgue and put down on her table, I can see how all worries and tensions caused by the burglary fall off of her as her professionalism takes over; for a while, she works pretty much in silence, starting with the usual Y-incision, and I just stand there and watch, I've been there often enough so it doesn't freak me out anymore the slightest.<p>

While Maura carefully starts inspecting Vega's intestines, one of the lab guys comes over with the results of the blood screening; I'm surprised they got done with that so fast, and when I tell him that, he lets me know in reply that he did the screening himself and that he was a huge fan of Vega. Aw man… But at least this got us the results faster.

"Put them here", Maura instructs him, gesturing with bloodied gloves to a free surface at the end of the table; he does so, then retreats while Maura looks at the results, then up at me, sounding just the tiniest bit surprised when she goes on and tells me that he was clean – no drugs, no alcohol, no steroids.

"Who would have thought that", I comment, that puts us back to the starting point – after all, so far, we thought that Vega did for his sober coach because he got caught doing drugs or drinking or both, and that would have cost him his spot on the team.

"His heart is enlarged", Maura tells me in reply, after taking a closer look at said organ, and I perk up.

"Congenial?" I want to know, and she shakes her head, then tells me that it happened recently – before she seems to spot something else, because she gets that special expression on her face.

"Maura?" I try to gain her attention, "what? You look as if you've got one of your 'I'm about to crack a case' hunches."

"My face doesn't hunch", she tells me, only looking at me briefly before she focuses on Vega again, mumbling something about itches instead of hunches while she checks some organ or other in his tummy, then takes it out and briefly looks at me again before she cuts into it – almost as if to make sure I'm not gonna puke or something. Is she confusing me with Frost now?

"His kidneys are damaged", she tells me after cutting and looking, and I realize that once more, I have to make her guess. Ugh. Good thing I brought her the fudge clusters, that will make up for putting her through that again. I hope. It takes some more coaxing than in the shower back at the stadium, but finally, I succeed – turns out that Vega was poisoned with antifreeze.

"How long would you have to poison someone with that to get that effect?" I want to know, and Maura let's me know it must have been three weeks after checking the kidney once more. I wanna stay here with her longer, make sure she's really okay, but with that recent development, I can't; so, I just tell her to call or page me as soon as she finds anything else and, after her confirming nod, hurry to the door to go upstairs and brainstorm with the guys.

Before I leave though, I turn once more to look at Maura; she's bent over the corpse again, studying the remaining organs, and even though her gloves are bloody and she's wearing that unflattering blue scrub thingy, I take a moment to admire how beautiful she is, how she manages to be attractive even when wearing hideous scrubs and bloodied gloves, the highly concentrated expression on her face only making her even more appealing.

Luckily, she doesn't notice me staring, that might have been really awkward, again; I have to shake my head a tiny bit to clear it, and finally, I manage to turn away and hurry upstairs, telling myself that I have to put my thoughts about her and how much of a crush on her I have aside at least long enough for proper brainstorming with the guys. Won't be easy – I'm crushing so, so hard on her.

* * *

><p>It takes us a while, but finally, we got pictures of all of Vega's team mates, the team owner, his ex-wife – previous team owner – and the coaches up on one of our "brainstorming boards"; while we are pondering who might have a reason to kill him, coming up with various answers, from another player to the team owner's ex-wife who wants her share of the team back, Maura texts me, not even half an hour after I left the morgue.<p>

"Maura's got something", I tell the others, and no more words are needed as we hurry downstairs together; there, Maura has our not-a-slip-and-fall-after-all guy on the table again and, once we're there, starts extracting fluid from one of his eyeballs, which looks kinda gross, but I don't make any grossed out noises, unlike Frost.

Deciding to ignore him, I ask Maura why she makes us stand there if she's sure she's got something, and she tells me that the time of death is usually hard to trace and that I should be patient. Pah! Jobe's a cranky toddler, compared to me, and I tell her just that. She just smirks.

While I admire that smirk, Korsak starts teasing Frost about the grossed out noise he made, and Frost teases back about his jacket or something, I'm not really paying attention, I'm too busy admiring Maura.

"Come on guys", I interrupt them, because now I'm getting a hunch that Maura's up to something, "let's focus. One of our ideas was Gina hiring him of the bad pick-up lines to get rid of Vega, right?" "Him of the bad pick-up lines?" Frost inquires, but I shrug him off and give him my "Man, focus!" look.

For some reason, Korsak feel compelled to make mention of how superstitious baseball players are, which should earn him a "Focus!" look as well, but before I can send one his way, he needs to add that one player wore the cup from his high school days until it got stolen late in his career. Ew. And then, as if that wasn't gross enough, Frost talks about another guy who put tiger balm on his balls, and Maura makes it perfect by asking "His balls? Aren't they checking those before allowing him to pitch?"

I know it's nasty, I shouldn't laugh at her, but I can't help it and snort, from the corner of my eye, I can see how Korsak bites back laughter too while Frost is kind enough to explain that he's been talking about a different kind of balls. Her only answer to that is a cute, startled "Oh!", and I have to snort again, then that desire vanishes within seconds when a thought hits me.

"So players have a lot of little rituals", I think out loud, making the others look at me – unlike Maura, I'm not hesitant to talk about my hunches. "Like drinking from the same blinged up water bottle before every game", I add, and Frost catches on quickly, telling me that he'll have it retrieved from Vega's locker.

While he goes to get that done, Maura gets the results for the tests she ran on the eyeball fluid, and tells us that it is what she expected; when that makes me accuse her of indeed having a hunch, she denies it though and explains that she only ran the test because she couldn't figure out the state of rigor mortis and that it hadn't fit together with the data we'd gotten from his key card.

"He didn't die at six a.m.", she goes on before I can say anything to that, man, I gotta keep that hunch thing in the back of my mind to tease her with it later on, "but six hours earlier."

"So the keycard logs were faked", Korsak concludes, taking the words right out of my mouth, "and we know who can do that, right?"

"Right", I agree, frowning to myself, "our former colleague. But why would he do that?"

"I'll get him for questioning", Korsak decides in reply, but before he can leave to do that, his phone buzzes and after he checked it, he makes all of it even better by telling me that Tommy didn't do it, that it was the work of a burglar ring busted thanks to the fingerprints in the house and that Maura will get all her stuff back.

"This is great", I almost cry out, nearly feeling giddy now – the case is going well after all, and the news that Tommy didn't commit a crime so shortly after his release after all is the cherry on top. Korsak gives me an agreeing grin, then hurries off to have Marc brought in for questioning; that leaves Maura and me behind alone, and I turn to look at her, my heart nearly melting when I see the happy smile on her face.

"Happy to get your stuff back, huh", I tease her, but she doesn't take the bait this time, since she simply shakes her head, then pulls off her gloves while she moves around the table to stand beside me, as always when her heels aren't high enough having to look up at me.

"I'm happy that it wasn't your brother after all", she tells me, and I can tell from the expression in her eyes and the sound of her voice that she means every word, even though she hardly knows him. "He seems like such a nice guy, and both Angela and you were so upset when you thought it was him."

She pauses, and tilts her head in that cute way when she thinks about something, then smiles again and goes on, a sparkle in her beautiful eyes now. "Although, I have to say, of course I also am happy to get my things back."

I smile back at her, nod and briefly put my arm around her shoulders to give her a little cuddle, an action that makes her giggle slightly; then, my phone interrupts the nice moment, and it's Frankie, telling me he did the impossible and found something in the dumpsters he has been searching through ever since the sober coach's death has been declared suspicious. "This is great", I repeat my previous words of happiness, "I'll be right there! See you in a few."

"Bring anything he found back to me as fast as possible", Maura tells me, while I pull my arm back from her shoulders, and again I think I see that expression in her eyes, the same one I saw when I didn't tell her she looks sexy, too; I just nod though, still not sure if I'm imagining that or not, and then head outside and to my car.

Only when I'm driving towards the stadium, I realize something I missed before – the way she tilts her head when she thinks about something, it was just the same when I said that she doesn't want to sleep with me during that brief… thing she had going on with that jerk Giovanni. And then she said no, she doesn't want to. And she can't lie, right? That's what I thought, but not all too long ago, she _did_ lie, so… maybe…

Man, I really need to get my head clear, now I'm trying to find evidence for her to be crushing on me, too. I better get this under control or who knows what might happen – but how am I supposed to control it how hard I'm crushing on her?


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: And here we go with the final chapter :) Thank you all for reading and reviewing, I hope you had as much fun reading the story as much as I had with writing it. Now, let's see if that crush Jane's struggling with really is so one-sided or not ;)

* * *

><p>The thing Frankie found in the dumpsters turns out to be a pair of latex gloves – bloodied latex gloves, which just makes my day. I also make Frankie's day by telling him that Tommy wasn't the one who stole Maura's stuff, so we're both happy when we part ways again and I take our newly acquired evidence back to the station where Maura is already waiting for it.<p>

"You can get some prints off them, right?" I wanna know while I watch her work, the gloves now hanging from blue plastic hooks in a transparent container, "not from the outside, but the inside? Please tell me you can."

"This is not CSI: Boston, Jane", Maura tells me, not even looking at me, but fully focusing on the gloves, "I can't promise anything."

"Aw, come on, Maura", I almost whine again, giving her my best puppy dog look in case she looks at me now, which unfortunately, she doesn't, "we only got those because I gumshoed, the least you can do now is get me a print."

"I can't promise anything, it's a very delicate and complicate procedure", she replies stoically, dammit, she should have looked at me after all, maybe that would have weakened her resolve, oh well, I put on the puppy dog eyes again just in case she will look now and answer in the nicest tone I can manage. "Aww, Maura, I know you can do it."

"I'm distracted", she sighs in reply, that doesn't really answer what I said, but I automatically look over her clothes to see if they are wrinkled, I know this distracts her, but before I can get done with that, she turns, looks at me after all – and crosses her arms over her chest. What is she doing?

"What are you doing?" I wanna know, and her answer makes my eyes go wide for a moment.

"Waiting for you to leave."

What? Why?

"What? Why?"

"Because you are distracting me", she accuses, "and as I said, this is a complicated and delicate procedure."

"I'm not leaving", I declare, but my mind is picking up speed behind the careful mask I put on the moment she said I distract her. I distract her? Why? How? I wasn't doing anything. Okay, I was talking, but… I distract her just by talking? And by being there? She's never said that before, and I've often been there when she did "delicate and complicate procedures", so why is it bothering her _now_? Could this mean that—

She steps closer to me, really close, I mean, personal-space-invading close, and actually tries to stare me down. "Leave."

There is the bossy voice again, the same she used when she told me to unzip her, and man, this time, it sends shivers up and down my spine and my hands get sweaty again. She's so close now that I can smell her, not just her perfume, but _her_, her very personal scent, and suddenly I understand how a mere presence can be distracting.

"Please, Jane", she adds, in a kinder tone this time, "if you want those prints… Go and apologize to Tommy while I get done here."

"…okay", I manage to say, and dammit, my voice trembled just the tiniest bit there, I wonder if she noticed. Oh jeez, of course she did, she's an M.E., it's her job to notice tiny things other people miss.

She raises an eyebrow, as if she wants to say something – or maybe ask me something, a question I know I'm not ready for, not yet, so before she can do that, I turn around and walk off so fast that I'm nearly running, feeling her gaze on my back the whole time, burning there and sending more shivers up and down my spine.

I really need to get a grip. I was a hair's breadth from just grabbing and kissing her now, and I know I can't do that – no matter how big my crush on her gets, and the damn thing just seems to grow and grow since I acknowledged it. Dammit.

* * *

><p>Knowing that I owe my brother an apology, I do as Maura suggested and find him to apologize; it takes him a while, but finally he accepts, and we just sit on the sidewalk for some time and talk, and I tell him that he's still welcome at Maura's house and that he can stay there as long as he needs to. He's visibly relieved and happy about that, then we talk about his new job as a dog walker for a while; and then, my phone interrupts me, and my heart skips a beat when I see that it's Maura who's calling.<p>

"Please tell me you got prints", I tell her, and she does just that, and I can't hold back a happy "YES!", making her giggle on her end of the line.

"I'm on my way", I let her know, then tell Tommy that the job's calling and that I'll see him later; he nods, wishes me good luck and continues his walk with the dogs while I almost jump back into my car and drive back to the station as fast as I can, rushing to the lab immediately once there, where I find Maura waiting, the gloves already sealed up in a plastic Ziploc baggy.

"An almost perfect set", she tells me, smiling proudly, "and we already have a match."

There are other people around, but I don't care, I got an excuse to cuddle and hug her again and as an answer, I do just that – I rush up to her side and pull her into a hug, and she lets out a funny little squealing noise, I can't tell if it's from surprise or delight or maybe even both.

"I knew you could do it", I tell her, briefly noticing the way the other lab workers look at us, some of them with bemused smiles, others with raised eyebrows, but then I decide to ignore it, so I can focus fully on Maura. "You can do _everything_."

"In fact, I can't", Maura feels the need to correct me, still in my embrace, but she doesn't look as if she wants to move out of it anytime soon, hey, maybe I'm not imagining things after all, "that would make me omnipotent, which I surely am not, but you know, many humans throughout history strived to…"

"Maura", I interrupt her, not unfriendly, "no history lesson now, okay? Tell me to whom those fingerprints belong." And she does, and I can't say I'm surprised. Man, that guy had balls, taking a cop out for dinner, even if said cop was on the job and was wearing her best friend's pink – or mauve, whatever – dress.

Quickly, I get out my cell phone and call first Korsak, then Frost, telling them we have an arrest to make; they agree to meet me in front of the stadium, then I grab the Ziploc baggy with gloves from Maura and finally have to step away from her, only realizing now that while I talked to my colleagues, I kept one arm around her the whole time. Obviously she didn't mind though, I mean, she could have stepped away anytime.

"Meet me at home when you're done?" she asks, giving me one of her cute smiles, "Angela's making dinner."

"Sure", I tell her, I'm not gonna ignore an opportunity to spend time with her, even if Ma will be around, "see you later then."

"See you later", she agrees, then turns back to her work while I hurry off to meet Korsak and Frost, eager to get Jesse into handcuffs, just the way he belongs. And then, I can finally go back to thinking about Maura and how much I'm crushing on her. Hooray.

* * *

><p>The arrest went smoothly, and so did dinner, even though I had to tease Maura about her misdiagnosing my dog after Korsak told us that her frantic licking of her paws wasn't OCD or depression, but simply an allergy to poultry; she offered to reimburse me and asked me if I wanted a check or cash, but then Ma cut in and told us to stop it, and the rest of dinner was more or less peaceful, even when Korsak and Frankie started teasing each other and Tommy joined in after a few minutes.<p>

Now, they all are gone, Korsak and Frankie went home while Ma and Tommy retreated to the guest house; I'm sure it's understandable that I didn't want to go home yet, so I'm sitting on the couch with Maura now, a bottle of beer in hand and a critical eye on the returned TV which Korsak and Frankie put back up on the wall.

"They did a good job, didn't they", Maura comments as she joins me, a glass of wine in one hand – she did like the beer I drink just fine when she tasted it once, but still prefers that, well, matter of taste I guess. I'm just not a wine person.

"I hope so", I tell her, looking at her, okay, I'm not just looking, I'm drinking in the sight – she changed into a quite tight dress once she arrived at home, and now that she sat down, it rode up enough to let me look at part of her upper legs. If I didn't know better, I'd say she did that on purpose. But of course I know better, I mean, why would she want to dress that way for me, right? I'm the one crushing on her, not the other way round.

"You'll know if it comes crashing down in the middle of the night", I tell her, smirking, but I realize that this maybe wasn't a smart thing to say when she grows serious and fidgets on the couch a bit, sounding just uncomfortable enough to let me notice when she answers. "I'd probably think it's another burglar. I'm glad those men got caught and put in jail, but I don't like the thought of one or more of them walking through my house and looking at my things."

"Maura, I'm sorry", I apologize at once, "that was a dumb remark, I shouldn't have…"

"Oh it's not your fault", she reassures me after a sip of wine, and now she smiles again, "I can't expect you to know the associations my brain makes. It's very fascinating how this works, by the way, I just recently read an article on it…"

"Only you can go from being a bit upset to google-mouthing", I can't help it, but I just have to laugh while I say that, and her smile widens as well, then she even lets out a little giggle before she sinks back into the couch, sounding thoughtful when she speaks up again after minute of not uncomfortable silence. "That was a very interesting case, don't you think? It made us trade clothes, we got to visit the Pilgrims locker rooms…"

Somehow, I have the feeling that she's not done, so I just wait for her to go on, but she doesn't, she looks at her glass and moves it a tiny bit so the wine swirls inside.

"Um… yes?" I thus offer after some more silence, but this time, that silence was a bit uncomfortable, and suddenly my mouth is dry, so I take a sip of my beer – only to nearly do a spit take when Maura finally does go on. "It's the trading clothes part I wanted to bring up again."

Uh-oh. I'm quite sure it's not the act of trading clothes she wants to talk about, but what I did instead of unzipping her – she didn't like it, I'm sure she didn't, and now she's gonna reprimand me for it, now that we are finally alone and don't have to keep our minds on the case anymore. Think quick Jane, come up with some excuse so this stupid moment won't cost you that friendship… "I liked what you did back then."

What? Did she really just say that? Do I need to get my ears checked? It's the second time I wonder about this, I realize, while all I can do is stare at her.

"Jane?" she asks me after a while, now sounding a bit worried, I think she thinks she broke me, since all I did was sit there and look.

"Um", I say in reply, wow, I'm so smooth today. "I'm", I try again, then finish my beer with one big gulp and get up hectically from the couch, suddenly I'm the uncomfortable one, and I don't even know why, I mean, this is what I wanted, right, "I'm gonna get a new beer!"

Maura looks a bit taken aback, but nods, and I quickly walk from the couch to the kitchen, putting the emptied bottle on the counter before I open the fridge, my mind's racing as I try to figure out why I'm having this need to get away all of a sudden, and I feel torn again, because I also have the need to grab her and kiss her, yes, again.

And then, just I reach for a fresh beer, there's a loud smacking noise and a bit of pain. I think I'm not even here right now, when Maura said she liked that, I must have fainted or something – because surely, Dr. Maura Isles did not just sneak up to me and slap me on the butt.

* * *

><p>My eyes must be as big as saucers when I turn to look at her, and maybe I even look a bit angry – unintentionally, I swear, I was just surprised, but that was so. Frigging. Hot. – because the mischief little smile on her face fades and suddenly she looks worried. And suddenly, it all pops into place, I can't switch off the detective part of my brain even when I'm off the job and relaxing with the woman I'm having a major crush on – the woman I <em>love<em> – it all clicks into place and forms one big, and very nice, picture.

She liked it when I touched, no, when I caressed her after I unzipped her.

She said I look sexy.

She did look disappointed when I didn't tell her she looks sexy.

She got distracted when I was around.

And she did want to ask me something when she noticed my reaction to how close she was to me when she told me to leave.

All of this just takes a few seconds to fall into place, seconds during which Maura keeps looking at me; and then she speaks up, says "Jane, I…" and looks as if she wants to step away, but, Hell no, I won't let her. So I grab her and turn her around and push her against the kitchen counter and then just hold her, my hands on her upper arms, my breath a bit quicker than it should be, and we just stare at each other.

Somehow, I'm still able to think clearly enough to realize that this is the last moment to back out before something will happen, something we won't be able to just ignore or even forget; I'm on the verge of either destroying our friendship or taking it to the next, wonderful level, that level I've been longing for so long.

It'd be so easy to step back from that edge, all I'd have to do is laugh now and let go of her and make some smart-ass comment about how I probably deserved that, I know she'd probably laugh too and we'd go back to how things were… but that's not what I want. I don't want the easy way out. I want to take the leap of faith. And I do just that by bending down – just a bit, I'm not that much taller – and pressing my lips to hers.

The moment I kiss her, the world is filled with her sweet taste, her perfect scent, and I swear I can hear fireworks going off somewhere and music and cheering, that's so clichéd, but it's true – and it only gets better when she immediately, without a second of hesitation, kisses me back. And then, it gets even more better, if that's possible, when the kiss actually deepens and my hands slide from her arms to her waist and I pull her close, impossibly close, so close her body's pressed against mine.

I kiss her until I feel close to passing out from lack of air, regretting it when I finally have to pull back; the way how Maura looks at me makes up for that though, she actually has a slightly dazed look, but her eyes sparkle and shine.

"You snuck up to me and slapped me on the butt." I didn't even know I wanted to say that until I actually heard the words leave my mouth. Wow, that's just the perfect thing to say after a kiss. Smooth… Well, we've been there before.

"I did", Maura now confirms, "but that was payback for when you slapped my butt. You didn't mind, did you?"

"No", I reassure her, and then something hits me and I just have to laugh, and she raises an eyebrow at me, so I try to explain, before she thinks I'm laughing at her.

"You know", I thus say, "after I did that… It's hard to explain, but, well, I wanted someone to slap some sense into me. I guess you did just that." She only looks confused, clearly having no idea what I'm talking about, but it doesn't matter, and before she can ask, I take her face into my hands – gently, of course, I'd never, ever hurt her – and kiss her again, and all is well. She really did slap some sense into me. And, man, am I glad about that.

End.


End file.
